Speak of the Devil: The most addictive feminist thriller of the year

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Wilding delves deep, focusing on a character-driven story in her deliciously tense debut.” – South Florida Sun-Sentinel The blurb reads: “In a seedy Newcastle room on New Year’s Eve, 1999, seven women are gathered around a man’s severed head. Each has a very good reason to have done it, each swears she did not. As we follow the women – the wife, the teenager, the ex, the journalist, the colleague, the friend, and the woman who raised him and the detective trying to solve the case – we discover how they came to know, love and ultimately despise the man who has wound up dead. But who killed Jamie Spellman?”

A powerful feminist thriller . . . twisted in the best way’ Clémence Michallon, author of The Quiet Tenant It’s 31 December 1999, the eve of the new millennium. Seven women form a semi-circle around the head of a man in a room in a run down hotel with a shady reputation. All of them had received a message from an unknown number earlier that evening: ‘Meet in the usual place, tonight, 7pm. Emergency.’ First off, I found this extremely interesting, the content and topics explored. However, I also found the construction of the story to be a bit jarring. There are a lot of characters and you get all of their perspectives. The narrative jumps around a lot, not only via perspective, but also in time. Rose Wilding weaves an interesting mystery around these women and their involvement with the victim, Jamie Spellman, in her character-driven debut novel. She keeps the reader guessing right to the end. Who hated Jamie THAT much? Wilding is a talented new mystery writer and I'll look forward to reading more of her work. A propulsive and complexly layered story...Fans of Lucy Foley and Ruth Ware won’t want to miss this one." – Nora Murphy, author of The Favor

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As the story weaves on, we eventually learn that the women are all connected in some way through the male character these women all have in common. His name is Jamie and he is a douche canoe. I did figure out the ending before it was revealed but not much before so I still got my aha moment. This was a pretty strong debut and I look forward to reading what this author comes up with next. A powerful feminist thriller . . . twisted in the best way' Clémence Michallon, author of The Quiet Tenant What about Olive? A still grieving widow who has been running from her past, she had long thought she knew exactly what occurred all those years ago, but what if she’s been wrong all along? Very localized writing - as a Canadian I was a bit confused with some of the lingo, but I enjoyed trying to figure it out! Lots of characters to keep you interested and I was determined to figure out who the killer was - but nope! I always have time for a whodunit, and I also love the cover so much - the gorgeous blue with the seven birds - love it. This is Wilding’s debut novel, and I’ll be watching for her in the future! NOT ONLY did I not understand WHO is WHO, or WHERE this story was taking place, but I also didn’t have an understanding of HOW each woman knew the victim or WHY each had a reason to kill him.

Next up were easily the powerful topics central to the book. Between questioning religion, the impact of impossible childhoods, and LGBTQ+ bias/bigotry, the depth of the plot was truly startling. I could easily see how such a manipulative man was able to harm these seven women so profoundly. Described in a way to both elucidate this fact but also draw out my empathy, the writing perfectly walked a line between the two. If Speak of the Devil is supposed to be a thriller, it failed for me in one crucial aspect: it was not the least bit thrilling. In fact, it was pretty bland, all told. It’s a good thing I’ve turned over a new leaf (briefly) and am reviewing this within hours of having read it. Although, how much help that will be is… questionable. Finally, there’s Kaysha, the journalist who brought this group together from day one. But what is her place in the fold? Was she merely trying to root out a truly bad man? Or is her involvement actually much deeper than that? The seven women, including the one female policewoman, are clearly defined in nature and appearance and are all very different, although their hurt and anger about Jamie is evenly spread across them all. The woman detective finds it hard to be impartial but finds herself slowly feeling as outraged as the rest of them.For a debut this book is pretty good. It is a puzzle that needs to be solved. Heavy on female characters, you are searching for the culprit of a gruesome murder. The story starts with a decapitated head - can't get more gruesome than that. Seven women connected to the murdered victim have come together to decide the fate of this man - but it looks like one of them has already made a decision. A devilishly immersive read – Rose Wilding is a wonderful new talent’ Kamila Shamsie, author of Home Fire Jamie (the murder victim) is an absolute monster with no redeeming qualities at all. This makes it exceptionally easy to cheer for the woman who killed him, even when we don’t yet know who it is. I loved how Wilding adds accents and slang to the conversations, bringing the Scottish brogues out in the supporting characters without making the language hard to understand.